[Student09]

I have my Chemistry final on Monday and my biggest problem is I have trouble balancing equations and doing net ionic equations. If anybody could break it down in simple steps and examples I would really appreciate it....

Thanks

[Fridushka]

well I'm not that sure, because i just checked my high school copybook and found an example including ionic and net ionic equations, it has been long time haven't reviewed it,
so, I have an example of a redox reaction:
Oxidation 1/2 rxn: Mg_(s)  Mg²⁺ + 2 e^-
Reduction 1/2 rxn: 2H⁺ + 2 e^- H_2(g)
Overall rxn: Mg_(s) + 2H⁺  Mg²⁺ + H_2(g)
Chemical eqn:  Mg_(s) + 2 HCl  MgCl_2(aq) + H_2(g)
Ionic eqn: Mg_(s) + 2H⁺ + 2 Cl^-  Mg²⁺ + 2Cl^- + H_2(g)
Net-ionic eqn: Mg^(s) + 2H⁺  Mg ²⁺ + H_2(g)

well its seems that the difference between the ionic and the net ionic equations is the abscence of the spectator ion, the Cl^-. Moreover, in the ionic equation include all the ion involved, and the net ionic just the ones in the half reaction.